


The Woman Who Stared Down an Army

by BlueLight333



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7404340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLight333/pseuds/BlueLight333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Russian Federation has responded to Canadian Arctic aggression with invasion.<br/>After mere months the Canadian military is defeated with NATO nowhere in sight. The Russian army takes control of Canadian territory.</p><p>But the war is not yet over.</p><p>The civilians have taken up arms and launched a massive counter offensive with everything ranging from shovels to stolen enemy firearms and even modified museum pieces.</p><p>However as separate guerrilla units became unified a stalemate emerged with three fronts, the Pacific, the Central and the Atlantic. </p><p>Our hero, a captain of the Canadian Civil Resistance, Jordan Henderson leads his unit to obtain a Russian asset that has the potential to break the horrific stalemate. </p><p>But nothing is quite as simple as it seems as he is faced not only with an occupying force but espionage from within, corrupt superiors and even the supernatural...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A beginner's guide to guerilla warfare and the supernatural

Senior lieutenant Petrov lit up a cigarette and took a deep puff.

This was of course against patrol protocol but he knew how high in demand junior officers were on the Central Front and figured he could afford ignoring the guide. The night was cold, this made the smoke coming out of his mouth ever more apparent as he sunk his neck further into his collar.

However, on this particular night his discrepancy would cost him his life.

And the thick wool collar would do nothing to stop the 7.62 cartridge that was about to leave the barrel of my rifle.

“Dart 1 ready with the patrol, Dart 2 and 3 report condition.” I whispered into the receiver near my ear.

“Dart 2 ready with tower guard.” Said a gruff voice.

“Oh, Dart 3 ready with the grenades.” Said a higher pitched voice through my earpiece. I ground my teeth, _damned rookie_ I thought.

“Dart 3 maintain set terms.” I growled quietly. He was far too new for me to be comfortable with but he was willing and I had no better options.

“Oh! Sorry! Anyway, ready.” Said the rookie. I lined up my sights again

“Right, on my mark move.” I said, I took my rifle off safety.

“Mark.” I said as I pulled the trigger, the sentry dropped like a stone as the rifle pushed into my shoulder. As I broke into a sprint I heard another distinct band and then a thump as the tower guard dropped from his post.

 _Where are the grenades?_ I thought to myself desperately, we stood no chance if the barracks full of troops had a chance to take up arms.

“Dart 3, would you kindly move your ass!?” I demanded into my earpiece. I saw Dart 2 Running to me, even through his mask I could see he was just as confused and pissed as I was.

Finally, we heard a distinctive 3 bangs as the grenades went off. I nodded to my teammate and he breached the door behind us with a swift kick. I followed close behind him, sweeping my rifle left to right making sure we left nobody unchecked. As we were halfway through clearing the main hallway the rookie dropped in behind me.

“Sorry, my boot got stuck in some crack.” He said out of nowhere, I had not heard him come behind me, I spun on the spot, kicking him savagely in the thigh and got ready to shoot him through the head when I saw the patch on his shoulder identify him as one of ours. I grabbed him by his collar and yanked him to his feet, he could have cost us our lives today, or worse, the mission.

“Listen here you little shit, this is not Vernon, I tell you mark that means FUCKING MOVE! Got it!?” I screamed an inch from his face.

“Yes sir, sorry sir…” He said meekly as he picked up his rifle. I did not personally hate him or even hold a particular grudge, he was barely older than I was when I first picked up a dropped police handgun and started ambushing the invaders, each time I was terrified.

But war has no patience for fear, his next hesitation could be his last.

I turned back around and caught up to my leading teammate, he was stood in front of a solid steel door.

“This it?” I ask taking it in, it’d take some serious hardware to get it out of our way.

“If the intel is to be trusted, yup.” He said in his usual gravelly tone. He has been in my unit as long as there was a unit to speak of, never once have I heard him use anything but that calm, low tone.

“Can we bust it?” I asked giving the door a few taps to gauge its thickness.

Repurposed heavy tank armour, figures.

“Nope, and we can’t call reinforcements either, bastards may be stretched thin this neck of the woods but they’ve got enough eyes on us to figure we’re up to something if we start relocating a demo unit.

“I have an idea!” Said the rookie behind us, we both turned around stunned.

“What you got?” I asked checking my watch, the regional headquarters will be expecting the outpost to be checking in soon, I was willing to take anything at this point.

“Before you broke through the West line the Bears had us building doors like these! We don’t need to blow up all of it, just the lock, it’s made of cheaper stuff.” He said, I considered this for a second.

“Dave, pass me a grenade.” My teammate grumbled something about the _fucking noobs_ but handed it over.  I carefully removed the topping mechanism leaving just the powder filled chamber. I then ripped out a sheet from my pocket book and wrapped a small pile of the powder in it, it looked almost like a cigarette.

I placed it was far as I could into the lock, pulled out my lighter and lit one of the ends, the paper was soggy and took a second. The rookie was watching this with the utmost attention, as if he were taking mental notes.

“Back, back, back!” I yelled as I sprinted down the hall, my unit on my heels.

_BANG!_

The small charge made a surprisingly big detonation. We rushed back to the door and I kicked it in.

This was it, what our whole mission was for, we just needed to retrieve whatever was in this room.

Upon entering I saw only a matrass, an empty food tray and…. A woman.

She was beautiful, in a somewhat haunting way, she was pale and her blue eyes were sunk into her face and they were lined with thick purple bags. Her hair clearly had not been washed in a long time and her raggedy clothes were torn and filthy.

“We’re here to retrieve… Her?” Asked the rookie with a clearly confused tone. One I would have gladly mirrored if it wasn’t my job to lead my unit and if we weren’t pressed for time.

“Well we’re not here for the fucking lunch tray, Dart 3 grab the objective and let’s move, we have only a few minutes.” I said checking to make sure my gun was chambered and running out of the room, 2 right behind me.

“Они здесь…” She said in a quiet voice, she sounded terrified.

“What? What the hell did she say boss!?” Demanded Dave.

“They’re here.” I translated, suddenly I heard the rookie who was standing by a window shout.

“SPETZNAZ! HIT THE- “But he was cut off as a machine gun cut through the door and peppered him in holes. He fell on top of the now screaming woman, shielding her in his last dying act.

 _Who the hell sent them?_ I thought as I sent a few controlled bursts in their general direction through the broken window.

“Holly shit, boss, the girl! The fucking girl!” Yelled Dave as he looked away from our direct enemy entirely.

I turned for a second and saw that our objective had now entirely blacked out eyes and was floating 4 feet off the ground, her arms outstretched on either side of her and her head tilted back. I refocused and realized we still had live enemies outside but saw that they were all floating too, limp and… bleeding.

“Right…” I managed to force out as I slumped on the floor next to Dave and waited for the woman to do her… thing, on us too.


	2. A Midnight Hike

I opened my eyes.

I was not floating and the woman wasn’t either, she was laying crumpled on the ground, shaking in either fear or exhaustion. Dave was looking from me to her in disbelief, his eyes wide and the forehead of his mask clearly soaked in sweat.

Realizing I had to resume control of the situation I stood up.

“Right, we’re still in hostile territory, get your ass off the ground and get the objective.” I said firmly looking at Dave. After a few more second he stood up and inched towards the trembling woman as if she were a live tiger.

As he made his approach I surveyed the scene, the firefight can’t have been more than a few seconds but the wall was already shredded, they must have had some heavy machine guns. I looked outside and saw that while they were no longer floating they were very certainly dead, a whole platoon of them lay in puddles of blood completely motionless. Whatever she did she did it effectively.

I turned back indoors, Dave had finally made it within arms reach of her and was helping her to her feet. I took a pace forward but my foot hit something. I looked down and saw…

The rookie.

He had taken at least 4 to the chest, his eyes were still open in fear. I knelt down and shut his eyes, I haven’t even had time to remember his name. I pulled out my pocket knife and cut off his shoulder patches, this was standard protocol, the patches were meant to help us identify our own and the enemy was never to learn our unit structures.

I noticed that Dave was standing behind me, carrying the now unconscious woman. I couldn’t read his face through his mask but I could tell he felt sorry for the kid, in the end he protected the objective.

“Let’s move.” I said quietly, we broke into a light jog with me leading. I remembered the route back well enough but considering the fact that the Spetznaz showed up large infantry units were soon to follow.

That prompted me to take a longer route with more tree cover and to keep an extra tight grip on my rifle. I would’ve led faster but Dave had a payload which slowed him significantly.

A few hundred meters from the drop off point I encountered a small enemy section. Only about 5 guys gathered around a fire, they were speaking in Russian and finishing off the rest of their meat ration. I halted mere feet away, if it weren’t for their chatter they’d have heard our footfalls.

“Dave, cover my patches.” I said quietly, I could hear him grumbling something about me being mad but he complied after putting down our objective, rubbing mud over them. After he was done I shouldered my rifle and picked up the objective, she let out a small groan of a fitful sleep as I did.

“Sir with all due respect, what the fuck are you doing!?” He whispered furiously as I took off my mask and strapped on a Russian helmet.

“We take our combat uniforms from what army?” I asked, the gears were slowly clicking in his mind.

“The Russians….” He slowly said.

“Exactly, now, I don’t want any gunfire, melee only move when I do, understood?” I asked, he nodded. I the stood up with the woman in my hands and ran towards the campfire.

“Fellas! Thank god, I found her passed out, I don’t think she’s doing too good do you guys have a medkit?” I asked frantically in fluent Russian. Soon as they saw me they reached for their guns but 4 out of the five lowered them and rushed forwards upon seeing my uniform.

“What unit were you with?” Asked the fifth who was still standing with his rifle at hip level.

“There is no more fucking unit man! Didn’t you hear the explosions coming from the outpost!? I was out on patrol when it all went down, rushed out to find help but she was in my way. Now are you gonna help or not?” I demanded, he stood there for a few more seconds then slowly moved towards his men who were crouched around the woman.

Soon as he crouched down I stood up in mock panic, they didn’t pay too much attention.

Perfect.

I withdrew my knife and stabbed two in the back of the neck before the other three realized what I was up to, I managed to gash the third soldier’s throat leaving two of the men scrambling for their guns. I rushed after one of them and Dave leaped from cover after the second. I caught up to my target right as he grabbed his rifle. He tried pushing me back but I was too fast, his green eyes widened with shock as I landed two stabs to his abdomen. He took two paces back and fell into the campfire, he squirmed for a few seconds from the flames but soon lay still with his head and chest engulfed in flames.

The sight was horrific and the soldier was likely just a draft, no older than 20.

But this was war, and he was in the way of my mission.

Dave was struggling with his opponent, he was the suspicious 5th soldier and likely the most experienced out of the five. He had his back turned and Dave firmly in a choke hold. He was the only one out of the 5 with body armour so I had to go for his throat. I used the pommel of my knife to hit him on the top of his helmet.

This got his attention.

He pushed Dave to the ground and turned to me, but before he could even raise his hands I had already moved my arm in a deadly horizontal arc. He dropped to the ground clutching his throat, the blood gushed through his fingers.

I looked at Dave, he was slowly getting up, coughing from the choke hold.

“You good?” I asked, he nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine, you should have a look at the other guy.” He said forcing a cocky tone. I kicked the body of the 5th soldier over so he was facing upward, the wound was still oozing blood and his eyes were still wide with shock.

“Yup lookin’ at this guy I’d say you’re pretty well off.” I said with a grave chuckle, war is hell, may as well find something to laugh about.

“Ready to move?” I asked, he nodded. I shouldered my rifle and picked up the woman. We kept moving to the drop off point, the trip was mostly uneventful and we reached the point in good time.

“Get the Boombox, it’s in my pack I said kneeling down. Dave opened it up and pulled out the large green field radio. The radio itself was Russian made but like most of our kit we had no problem modifying and using it against the manufacturers.

“Base 1, Base 1 this is Dart unit, requesting evac at designated area, how copy? Over.” He said into the mouthpiece, I set down the woman and gripped my rifle, looking through the treeline for approaching hostiles. I glanced over the smooth lake in front of us, I could see a tank barrel sticking out near the beach, before the war this area was considered a dump, full of litter and waste. And now after years of combat that barrel was the only way you’d know anyone was ever here, I found that almost ironic.

But my contemplation was cut short when the radio crackled to life.

 _“Dart unit confirm package retrieved, over.”_ Said the mission controller, he was a new officer, a stickler for the rules.

“How do you want us to confirm? Over.” Said Dave rolling his eyes at me, I gave him an understanding nod, it was bad enough they didn’t tell us the objective was a live woman and now we had to go through this song and dance.

 _“What colour its hair?”_ Asked the controller, I looked at the feeble figure curled up at my feet, in the moonlight I could see her messy head of brown hair.

“Brown, confirm the bloody evac, over.” Growled Dave impatiently. After a few seconds pause the controller came back on.

 _“Package confirmed, expect your “bloody evac” in 2 by sea, out.”_ Said the controller, Dave switched the radio off, he began stowing it back into my pack just as the woman started stirring.

“Who are you?” Asked the woman in very broken English. Dave flew back reaching for his sidearm.

“Motherfu-!” He began but I outstretched my hand in his direction.

“Easy there Jumpy, if she wanted us hurt she’d have done it back at the outpost.

I turned back to her, once more I was mildly stunned at how beautiful she was despite the fact that she clearly hadn’t seen any care or a decent meal in some time. Her features were delicate and her blue eyes were like a clear summer sky. I brushed the mud off the patch on my shoulder, it had a black and white version of the Canadian flag but the maple leaf was replaced with a skull that had a hole in it’s forehead. Beneath the skull was written; **_CENTRAL_** the insignia of the Civil Canadian Resistance on the central front.

“Liberators, we got you out of the containment unit at the Russian outpost, you remember that?” I asked slowly, making sure I spoke clearly.

“Yes… Thank you, the men there…” Her eyes started to get clouded with tears and her expression turned angry, considering what she did to the Spetznaz unit I figured it was in my best interests to keep her calm.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, we owe you for the… floaty rescue.” I said with my best reassuring smile, she gave a weak smile in return but she started shivering.

“Here, I know you’re cold.” I said pulling off my coat and draping it over her shoulders despite her protesting in Russian that she didn’t wanna impose.

“What’s your name?” I asked smiling at the funny way she burrowed into the coat that was way too big for her.

“Nina, and yours?” She asked quietly. I considered not telling her, after all I was leader of a covert ops unit but there’s a small sea of Jordans out there so I figured she was owed at least a name.

“Jordan, pleasure.” I said, she smiled, I smiled despite myself.

“Evac is here boss.” Said Dave behind me, I looked out to the lake to see an outline of a small inflatable landing boat.

“Who is that?” Asked Nina timidly pointing at the boat.

“That my dear is our ride to safety.” I replied looking down at her with another reassuring smile.

Sometimes I marvel at how wrong I can be…


	3. A House Divided

I remember before this all started I wanted to spend a day on this lake.

I just never figured I’d do it in bloodstained gear and carrying a gun.

The ride was surprisingly peaceful, the moon gently sparkling on the water as the engine quietly cut through, leaving an arrow of waves behind us. Dave was fast asleep as expected but Nina couldn’t have looked more on edge.

“What’s wrong?” I asked putting my hand on her shoulder.

“Water….” She said timidly.

“Yeah? What about it?” I continued.

“I do not like it; I cannot swim…” She replied, I couldn’t help but chuckle, she floored a platoon of trained special forces troops by looking at them and yet was afraid of a lake.

“What? Why do you laugh?” She demanded a little angrily.

“Nothing at all, don’t worry. We’re almost there by the way.” I said looking to where the boat was pointed, the rocky shore was fast approaching.

To the untrained eye this would be nothing more than a tough beach with no signs of life. But I and everyone living at the base behind it knew that behind a thin sheet of granite lay and entire army. I couldn’t help but smile with pride, an entire force stationed right under the enemy’s nose. Nina looked confused, like most she only saw a cliff.

Upon coming within 15 or so feet the driver cut the engine, giving us room to slow down. The inflatable sides gently bumped the rocky shore with a surprisingly hollow _thunk._ I gave Dave a kick.

“Hm?” He asked sleepily.

“Base.” I replied nudging my head towards the rock shore. After spending some time in the field with someone you really don’t need more than a few words to get your point across.

The driver managed to get us from drifting away and grabbed a slightly miscoloured bit of rock and gave it a pull revealing a simple metal lever. He pulled down and a section of the shore opened up just above the waterline. The new opening was just big enough for our boat if we crouched down.

“What’s your last name Float?” Asked Dave, him and his nicknames….

“Demidovna, also please never call me Float again.” She said in an unusually firm tone, I understood, I hate Dave’s nicknames.

“Well Ms. Demidovna welcome to The Pebble.” Said Dave with a self satisfied smirk as we entered the small water tunnel.

The tunnel widenened out as we got further in, the primitive wood and steel supports on bare stone becoming smooth concrete walls, and the ceiling became a large cement dome. Tunnels branched off in all directions from the main cavern, some smaller than a chimney and some big enough for a tank. After spending a few months on this part of the front I knew every inch of every tunnel.

The smaller ones were designated for air and anything that could fit a person led to anything ranging from living quarters to armouries to traning sites.

In short, home.

We disembarked on a designated drop of point at the dock of the central cavity and were immediately greeted by our mission controller and 3 rather imposing men with their hands firmly placed on their leather holsters. Due to the… uncertainty factor of living in a massive stone cavern anything larger than a pistol caliber was not to be shot anywhere but the shooting tunnel.

Our mission controller (or Frat Boy as Dave dubbed him, one nickname I did not argue with) was a short and skinny twenty something that wore his uniform like a curtain, I had no doubt that even if rifles were allowed he’d struggled to pick one up. However, despite the fact that he never left his office chamber he carried himself like a seasoned veteran.

“Captain, you can hand over the package now, I’ll take it from here.” He said looking up at me as I stood over him.

“There was a whole fucking platoon of Spetznaz troops waiting for us when we reached the objective, you told us there were no garrisons for miles, the place was swarmed in minutes, you wanna explain.”

“Need to know cap- “He began with his typical snobby tone but soon as I remembered the Spetznaz I remembered the dead rookie that gave his life for his errand.

“Listen here you pompous shit, a kid- a good man died today because of your fuck up, he may have been 5 ranks beneath me but he was 5 times the man, now I have to tell his old unit he was taken out because you fed us bullshit. So how dare you stand there and-!” I was about to continue my monologue but Dave put his hand on my shoulder, the grip wasn’t hostile but it was firm, letting me know that if I didn’t cool off he’d have to step in.

“Th-the package please.” He said backing into the three soldiers behind him for presumably reassurance. I turned to Nina, she was practically burying herself in my coat, I smiled and jumped into the boat.

“Hey, don’t worry, nobody here wants to hurt you.” I said as she looked at the controller with a terrified expression.

“Oh him? Don’t worry about it, he just talks a big game, you’ll be fine, I promise.” I said smiling, she gave a small smile back and stood up, stepping out of the boat with me. She handed me back my coat and I gave her a nod, she nodded back and followed the 3 men down one of the tunnels.

“He sets me off too boss but let’s sort out the actual enemies first before we get to the petty ones.” Said Dave watching them disappear down the tunnel.

“That’s what I worry about Dave, how can we fight out there when the people in here don’t have our backs?” I asked giving my rifle to a passing lower rank to stow away.

“Dunno, but we sent the bears running north once, we will again. Anyway, chow?” Asked Dave pointing to the “Feeding Hole” which is what we called the base’s canteen.

“Nah, I have something I gotta take care of…” I said grimly, this part never got any easier.

“The kid.” He said looking at his boots, understanding what I had to do as the unit commander.

“Yeah, see you at the barracks later.” And with that I left, it was pretty late but most of our troops operated at night so if the rookie’s friends were at base they’d be up. On my way to the common area I passed a lot of guys from my unit, I didn’t take them because of the commander’s insistence, they were all skilled fighters.

I finally reached the small common area, I tried hard to remember the kid’s name, Joe I think it was. I saw a small gaggle of anxious soldiers, 6 guys and 1 girl, they weren’t saying much they seemed to just be waiting, I saw that look many a times, they were who I was looking for.

As I approached one called them to attention and saluted, the CCR’s salute was unlike any army’s, one just raises their right fist to head level. I quickly saluted back and waved them down.

“You guys Joe’s friends?” I asked quietly looking each of them in the eye, they read my expression and immediately their faces turned as grim as mine, the girl started crying.

“And I take it you’re his girlfriend?” I asked pointing to the now weeping girl, she was taking it the hardest by far. She nodded, I stepped forward and put my hand on her shoulder, with my other hand I reached into my pocket and withdrew his patches and handed them to her, she howled in agony upon seeing them.

“I’m sorry, the enemy came out of nowhere, but it’s thanks to him we got down in time and he saved the mission with his sacrifice.” I said as she took the patches with trembling hands, his other friends slumped against the chamber wall.

“Was it quick?” She asked, funny how the usual after death questions switch from “When? Why? How?” in peacetime to “Was it quick?” During war.

“He was down before he even finished warning us, I doubt he even felt a thing.” I said, she nodded a little before looking right at me, her red, watery eyes racked me with guilt, her boyfriend was dead because I was too unobservant.

“And the bastards that shot him?” She asked with rage imprinted on every inch of her face.

“Dead, the whole platoon.” I said.

“Good, they deserve it.” She said, I nodded but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew there was a whole platoon of girlfriends and mothers saying the exact same about our Joe.

Realizing the was nothing more I could say I walked away, soon as I left the rest of Joe’s friends rushed in to comfort her, funny how war unifies people. No matter how many patches I hand over to loved ones I never feel any less guilt or anger, I ran my fingers over the leather holster on my belt.

I needed to vent off, I took a sharp right and headed to the target range. Upon reaching it I found it empty except for the usual ammunition girl, Lola, it was mandatory for there to be one range supervisor at al times. Soon as she saw me she got flustered, the magazine she was reloading fell from her grasp. She was new and my reputation of experience must have reached her at some point. She must have heard anything that wasn’t classified about the Prairie Phantom.

Again, I hate Dave’s nicknames.

“Hello sir! I was just…. Clearing up, sorry about the clutter.” She said before quickly remembering protocol and saluting, I saluted back. Even though I was absolutely drained her cheery yet nervous air made me smile a little.

“Don’t get nervous on my account, I was just wondering if I could unload a few clips. If it’s not any trouble that is.” I sad signing for the bullets on the clipboard stationed at her counter.

“Of course not sir, no problem at all, rough night?” She asked trying timidly to start a less formal conversation, I was happy to oblige, I didn’t particularly enjoy the way people talked to me when they saw my rank.

“Oh you know how it is, no night’s an easy one when you have a mission.” I said picking up a magazine.

“I absolutely understand sir, did some fighting on the Pacific before I got transferred.” She said, this surprised me, she was a combat operative?

“You saw action?” I asked pausing at the counter, she nodded.

“Plenty of it, I was with the CCR during the meatgrinder known as Vancouver.” She said, this I was impressed by, Vancouver was the bloodiest battle of the war so far.

“So what are you doing wasting away down here?” I asked confused.

“Dunno sir, Mission Controller Redman put me down here.” She said, I grimaced, Redman was the one that got the rookie killed.

“Yeah he’s known for his leading genius, oh and please drop the sir, it’s just us here, call me Jordan.” I said, I hated being called sir.

“Oh, of course si- Jordan.” She said with a smile, I smiled back, friendly conversations are hard to come by these days.

“So, erm, the seniors are hosting a small dance to boost morale in two days, if you’re not on mission do you think- “She began but was swiftly cut off.

“Captain Henderson!” Shouted a voice from down the tunnel. I turned to see a corporal running my way.

“Colonel Jackson wanted to let you know you’ll be training a new member of your team tomorrow.” He said catching his breath, he had forgotten to salute but that was fine by me.

“Excellent, who is it? Truman? Green? Fencer?” I asked listing out the basic infantry soldiers I suggested for an upgrade to my unit a few weeks ago.

“No sir, some girl named Demidovna.” He said, this made the blood rush out of my face.

They put an untrained civilian into my hands and expected me to lead her into combat.

“Thank you corporal, you’re dismissed.” He saluted and ran off, Lola looked a bit unsure as what to say, the anger on my face was apparent.

“Jordan are you ok?” She asked, I felt absolutely fed up, I snatched a magazine from the table and slammed it into my pistol walking over to the firing lane.

“Working on it.” I growled.

_BANG!_


	4. Back to Basics

“ARTILLERY!” I shouted running to the ditch full of cowering armed men. My helmed rattled on my head as I leaped in the tangle of soldiers.

_Bang, BANG **BANG!**_

The barrage was getting closer, a man beside me was praying the one behind him was crying, the one on my other side was curled on the ground laughing hysterically.

I was scared out of my skull, we had been unscathed from this barrage but how many more will we live through? One? Two? At that moment I realized we were dead, may as well take the fight to them.

I grabbed my rifle and stood up a little higher than a crouch to avoid being hit by the incoming infantry.

“MEN!” I yelled over the chaos behind me, the ones that weren’t wounded, dead or hysterical looked at me.

“I am not a native Canadian, in fact I’m of Russian blood. But this nation took me in while my birthplace stomped on me. THIS is my home, THIS is my soil, and may I be buried in this very field and be left to rot so long as I take back at least one inch from these bastards!” I shouted hoisting my free right fist into the air, the men were stirred now, they lifted theirs and I saw the desperation and fear on their faces turn to mad determination. Just one more push is all I needed to raise them into attack.

“If I have to go over the top alone so be it, but if you, men, Canadians, follow me then the enemy will know that this is NOT THEIR LAND!” I shouted, they were clearly ready to charge, with a primal cry of fear and anger I leaped out of the ditch, I could hear my roar echoed behind me. I saw the enemy up ahead, I could tell they were a bit stunned as the machine gunners had stopped firing for a brief second, but soon resumed.

I needed them out of the picture, I hit the ground as the machine gun kicked up pellets of earth around me, hopefully my men did the same.

“GRENADES!” I shouted behind me, after a few seconds pause I saw small black dots whiz into the enemy position, I heard frantic Russian screaming followed by a small series of explosions.

“NOW!” I shouted standing up, I had never run so fast in my life, in no time at all I was in their trench. It was far nicer than our ditch, equipped with proper machine gun post and there was even the destroyed remnant of a mortar to the left of my boot. I saw that there were men from further down the trench rushing to fill the gap we punched in their lines. I heard a few more of my men reach the trench as their boots thudded on the dry ground.

“Take this position at all costs, spare no one!” I shouted as the first enemy reached me, he attempted to shoot me but the trench was far too narrow for him to get his rifle up properly, he seemed as scared as I was but for now it was kill or be killed.

I launched a kick to his knee, causing it to bend in an unnatural direction, he yelped and fell, before he could do anything I pointed my rifle at him and fired. After him it all became a blur of kicking, stabbing, shooting, anything to survive and live long enough to kill the next one.

Finally, the melee was over, there was a small gaggle of my men around me, awaiting direction.

“Turn their heavy guns around, we need to hold this pos- “I began but from behind us, over the distant cannon fire I heard engines, roars of great metal beasts.

Tanks, our tanks. We had done our job; our part of the battle was over.

As the recent memory of the fighting became more clear I remembered that one of the men next to me saved me from a knife to the back, I turned to him.

“What’s your name?” I asked, he seemed almost unfazed by it all.

“Dave, you?” He asked holding out his muddy hand.

“Jordan.” I said taking his hand and shaking it.

I opened my eyes with a gasp. I looked around and saw that I was at my bunk, and once again I was awake an hour earlier than I needed. I considered putting my head back down but quickly realized I wouldn’t get any sleep anyway. I stood up and began my morning routine, get dressed, pushups, situps, shuttle runs, ablutions and out the barracks.

Usually this would be followed by reporting to mission control for my field assignment but not this morning, I had a more grueling task.

Training.

I headed down the tunnel leading to the parade square, a large cavern with strong lighting, a tall Canadian flag was standing at the front, flanked on both sides by the colours of the CCR Central on both sides. In the center of the parade square stood 6 figures, 4 stood idle, wearing the white armband of new recruits. The other two were Dave and Redman were standing a few feet away tensely talking, I walked over to them.

“What am I doing here sir?” I said soaking my tone in acid, Redman wore his typical smile, Dave looked about ready to shoot him.

“Ah captain, I’ll be brief, these four are yours to train, you have a month to get them up to par to go into deep cover, they’re all Russian fluent and familiar with the enemy’s military structure. You have full access to the base’s facilities, get to it.” And with that his skinny frame was walking out of the parade area, leaving me with the four and Dave. He looked as pissed as I was.

“How do you wanna play this?” I asked him, he sighed.

“You know I hate training and from what Frat Boy told me they have no experience at all so you take the lead, I’ll stick around for… whatever.” He said disgruntled and went off to the far corner of the parade square. I looked my recruits up and down, they were chatting idly, their uniforms were sloppy, hands in their pockets and no patches, they hadn’t earned them yet.

“Recruits! Form up, single rank, let’s go!” I yelled, three out of the four snapped into movement and ran into a single file, one of them was Nina. The fourth took his time, arrogantly swaggering into line.

“Starting from the right say your last name.”

“Russlanov.” Said the one on the right.

“Demidona.” Said Nina.

“Sablin.” Said the one next to her, the one on the very right was taking his time, pausing for a few seconds.

“Dranikov.” I walked right up to him, an inch from his face.

“YOU NEED A SPECIAL INVITATION OR SOMETHING!? I OWN YOU! MAKE ME WAIT AGIN YOU’LL BE FLYING OUT OF HERE RIGHT TOWARDS THE ENEMY GOT IT?” I yelled right at him, he flinched but continued his show of arrogance.

“Get the fuck out of my face, you don’t get to shove me around, I am the citizen of a democratic- “He started but I cut him off with a punch to the gut.

“Listen and listen close you little shit, that nation has fallen, I have been given the sorry task of training you into someone who can bring it back, you wanna talk smart? I’ve got plenty of hurt I can unleash on you.” I growled an inch from his ear, he leaped upward and pulled his knife from his belt, with a scream of anger he started slashing at me.

He was slow, I dodged time after time, finally getting bored and twisting the knife out of his grasp and kicking him down. As he stood shakily I looked him up and down.

“Sorry sir, I just got- “He began but I cut him off.

“If we weren’t short for bodies I’d have you kicked the hell out, but for now I’ll chalk that up to a misunderstanding.” He nodded and straightened up in at the end of the rank.

“Who wants to learn how to do that?” I asked holding up the guy’s knife in front of the shocked recruits, everyone including Nina raised their hand. I smiled, they had the drive.

“Good! Obey what I say and you will come out of this month capable to turn anything sharp, blunt, ballistic and explosive to your needs.” I said pacing in front of the rank, I had their undivided attention.

“Your days from here on out will be hell, make no mistake, and soon as I finish talking you will speak only in Russian. You will not sleep in the barracks; you will sleep topside in the brush.” I said, 2 of the recruits already has a slight tinge of dread on their interested faces.

“You will wake up at 6 AM sharp, you will have 10 minutes to get ready for the day, the next hour will be hard physical training, I will be pushing you to your limits. You will then have 15 minutes to eat. After which you will go down here for an hour of parade drill, you will be trained to march as the enemy. Then 3 hours’ weapons training, disassembly, reassembly, cleaning, firing, you will now every inch of the enemy’s weapons. Followed by 15 minutes for lunch, then close quarters combat for 3 hours, you will be walking weapons. Finally, 4 hours of theory, navigation, enemy field and parade dress, so on so fourth. You will have the rest of the day to clean yourselves up, make dinner, brush up on your theory and sleep, you will be in charge of when you sleep and eat dinner, I expect you to manage your free time well.” I finished their schedule, roughly 12 hours of training a day, more than I’d like but I was on a time limit.

The recruits looked mortified, but surprisingly Nina looked determined as ever. I looked at my watch, 5:45 AM, perfect.

“What? You think we’re gonna be doing a song and dance today? Get to the supply, grab tents, water filters, sleeping gear, go! Move!” I shouted, they ran to the tunnel left of the flags, I stopped Dranikov, he looked at me with a cautious expression, I handed him back his knife handle first.

“Next time you take a stab at me, make sure you land it.” I said with a neutral tone, he nodded and apologised again running after the others.

This was gonna be a long day.

We had just finished parade drill and Dave had just come back into the armoury with a box of pistols, the Russian made PMs. Lola as the range supervisor insisted to stand by during the lesson, Dave stood back to make sure the recruits payed attention.

“This is the PM or the _Pistolet Makarova,_ standard sidearm of the Russian armed forces.” I said withdrawing mine from my holster, Lola gave me a smile from behind the recruits, I smiled back.

“Its effective firing range is 50 meters; it shoots the 9X17 or the .380 ACP cartridge. You will be integrated as junior officers so you will be carrying this around. The mag holds 8 rounds. That’s all you really need to know, now watch closely.” I said as I set it down on the table, I nodded to Dave, he clicked a button on his watch and I got to work disassembling the pistol. I slapped the table when I was done, Dave clicked the watch.

“28 seconds.” Said Dave sounding almost impressed, Lola whistled.

I smiled slightly and put it back together with only a second’s difference.

“Sir.” Said one of the recruits in English.

“Russian from here on out Sablin, you will address me as Comrade Captain.” I said in Russian.

“Sorry, Comrade Captain, this is all impressive but at the end of the day accuracy is the name of the game.” He said cautiously hoping not to get disciplined, I smirked.

“Lola, mind if I tear up this target?” I asked pointing to the green man shaped silhouette down range, she smiled and replied.

“Go for it.” She said tossing me a full clip, I loaded it in.

“Dave, care to time?” I asked, he nodded.

In a flurry of movement, I unloaded, the 8 rounds leaving my barrel one after the other. The gun clicked open after I shot my last, Dave clicked his watch.

“10 seconds.” He said as I pulled in the target, the rounds had hit directly to the forehead, the space between them was a pinky at most.

“Questions?” I asked looking around the gaggle of recruits. They shook their heads.

“Good, you have this training window to get your disassembly, reassembly and grouping to at least mine, get to it.” I said walking over to Lola as the recruits scurried to the box of pistols as Dave walked among them, correcting whoever was wrong, he seemed to linger quite a bit on Nina. Lola bumped me with her shoulder, I looked over at her, she seemed a lot more confident today.

“So we got a little interrupted yesterday.” She said with a smirk, I let out a chuckle.

“Yeah sorry, you were gonna ask something too.” I said a little embarrassed at how things ended.

“Yeah I was, still am… Comrade Captain.” She said with a grin, I bumped her back.

“Oh shut up you know how training is, gotta be rough.” I said, she nodded.

“Well, comrade captain.” She began, I chuckled again.

“I was wondering if you’d like to join me for the base wide dance in two days.” She said, I felt a bit shocked, her and I were very friendly but her asking me out surprised me.

“Yeah, yeah I’d like that, assuming Sablin doesn’t confuse the trigger with the mag release and kill me I’ll join you.”

I knew starting up close relations during war was a bad idea but sometimes you just need something good in your life.


	5. The mission

 “Lets go Sablin! My grandmother could reload faster and she’s dead!” I shouted at the trainee as he scrambled for anew ammo belt.

They had been training for a few days and were now working with the PKM, the Russian army’s heavy machine gun. They were clearly doing their best but there was still a lot of work to do before they can get even remotely close to deep cover. Nina was standing behind Sablin as he did his best to load the gun. She was clearly itching to give it her best attempt.

“Captain!” Shouted a familiar woman’s voice from behind me just as Sablin commenced firing. I turned and saw Lola walking towards me I smiled immediately upon seeing her.

“Ah, lieutenant, here to make sure we don’t demolish your range?” I asked jokingly, she grinned and shook her head, her brown eyes sparkling.

“No, though I probably shouldn’t blindly trust every good looking officer with my facilities.” She said, if I was the type to blush I’d be doing it then.

“The base commander wants to see you.” She said finally, confused I nodded and asked her to supervise the rest of the shooters.

The entire walk to the head office I was scrambling to figure out why he could want to see me, I’m neither the only captain on base nor the only one going behind enemy lines. I did my best to clear my mind as I knocked on the steel door to the office.

“Enter.” Said a calm, rather elderly voice from inside. I swung the heavy door inward and was greeted with a simple, slightly dimly lit office with one man in uniform sitting behind the desk. He was definitely getting on in years, his head may be still full of hair but every single one was gray. The small laptop situated on his desk was lit up but he wasn’t looking at it rather he was watching me enter.

His gaze made me shift and squirm, it was a deep intense stare, he was clearly studying me, looking to find something wrong.

“You requested to see me sir?” I said as I gave a half casual salute.  He saluted back and gestured for me to sit across from him. I sat down and uncomfortably waited for him to speak. He took a deep breath and started to speak.

“Captain Henderson, 39 years old, first military service with the Spetznaz in the 90s, retired, refused veteran benefits due to the classified nature of your service.” He said reading off a file he had on his desk, his knowledge of my past made me very uncomfortable.

“Moved to Canada, joined the CSOR, saw active combat since day one, retreated with the CSOR right from the Arctic, fought your way back North with the CCR PACIFIC, now with CCR CENTRAL.” He concluded closing the file, he had missed several points I was frankly grateful he didn’t know about.

“An impressive portfolio captain, impressive indeed.” He continued, I had had enough of this.

“All due respect sir I have a very short amount of time to turn civilians into deep cover operatives, I don’t understand what going through my track record is meant to achieve.” I said with a very clearly annoyed tone, he put on a small smirk.

“And apparently no tolerance to empty talk, I like that, I called you in here to brief you on your mission.” He said turning the laptop to face me, I was looking at a paused video screen. He clicked the play button and I was watching what was clearly helmet cam footage, the soldier was obviously walking, his boots crunching the gravel beneath him, I was just about to ask why I was watching a nature walk when the ground started shaking, the soldier turned around wildly, yelling in French. Finally, he stopped turning and fell silent. What I was looking at was almost beyond words.

It was a large, humanoid… thing made entirely of metal, the green moss like camouflage hanging off it made it look like a mix between an ancient tree and a vengeful demon. From its massive shoulders protruded two enormous barrels, I recognised them immediately, anti-aircraft turrets, KS-30s. It turned its misshapen head to face the soldier, he scrambled for his rifle and desperately tried at least making it back off as he fired round after round at it.

The thing merely stood there, the bullets sparking off it. Eventually the soldier tried using his grenades, but the detonations did almost nothing to the thing except burning off its camouflage. As the draping green fibres burned off I started recognising more weapons, each of its forearms was strapped with KORD heavy machine guns, its upper arms were filled with TKB-0134 grenade launchers, its hideous legs were lined with heavy metal boxes, presumably ammo.

“Sir… What the hell am I looking at?” I asked as the behemoth finally got bored with the soldier and fired off a few shots, killing him.  

“Meet Gulliver, Russia’s new AK.” Said the commander in a grim tone

“What do we know about them?” I asked desperately.

“Nothing except what you see, the little we scraped together from corrupt officers and the shadow web wasn’t helpful, we know that there aren’t many of these made and that they are almost indestructible.” He said, I felt gutted, the war may as well be over.

“So where does my unit come in?” I asked tiredly.

“Your unit will be plopped in behind enemy lines and are to act as civilians, but your main objective is to destroy the 4 Gullivers designated to the central front.” He said calmly pulling up a map of the front, it looked like a horseshoe with the point furthest South of course being the central front, the prairies made great trench warfare conditions, where the enemy’s superior numbers shined.

“Um, yeah just one question sir, my unit and what nuclear arsenal are supposed to take these things out?” I asked growing increasingly angry, I would not send my unit to certain death, not again.

“Nina.” He said simply, I shook my head an laughed.

“Sir, we have no idea how her powers work! Hell we don’t even know if she’s in control of them! And if she’s the one we need why bother sending the rest of us?” I demanded, I had fought many of his battles, I had a right to know.

“The rest of your unit is to keep her safe, you and your second in command are to keep her in check, as to her powers, that’s where you come in again captain.” He said closing the laptop, once again staring through me, but this time I wasn’t bothered.

“You have trained men to fight and kill for decades, if anyone is capable of helping her gain control its you.” He said simply. I shook my head, once more it’s do the impossible or fail.

“You’re dismissed.” He said waving me away, I snorted, gave a brief salute and left the office.

I closed the steel door and turned around…

Just in time to see a gun barrel pointed right at me…


	6. First Aid

As my eyes refocused to look behind the barrel I saw that Redman was holding the pistol. As the “upper crust” of the officer class he was issued the lucrative Colt M1911 pistol, I politely declined mine when it was offered, sticking to my Makarov.

“What did the colonel tell you? What is your mission?” He asked in his typical tone, I was not entirely sure if this was a test of my loyalties or if he was really a spy. Either way I’d get to do what I’ve wanted to do for years, what the newfound stress of the impossible mission made me crave to do.

Beat the ever-smug shit out of Redman.

Without another second’s hesitation I ducked to the left of the barrel, coming back up with my fist under his chin. My every muscle was focused on driving myself upwards as hard as I could, upon contact his head snapped back. He stumbled back at which point I grabbed the gun out of his hand and tossed it behind me, I continued his stumbling with a rapid one-two barrage to his ribs. I felt fantastic, with each contact I could feel what little breath he had left leave him.

A few junior officers saw this but didn’t try breaking us up, guess they had just as much reason to hate him. Finally, he fell flat on his ass and raised his hand in a pathetic attempt to shield himself. I wanted to badly to follow up with a series of kicks but he looked so pitiful I realized I had done enough.

“Please! I was told to test your ability to keep your mouth shut about the mission.” He pleaded still shielding himself. I leaned close to his ear, causing him to flinch.

“I know.” I whispered.

“I just wanted an excuse to show you why not to fuck with me.” And with that I stood up and walked off to the gun range, the recruits must still be there. As I passed the two junior officers at the end of the tunnel they saluted, I tried waving them down but their eyes were positively gleaming.

“No sir, you earned this one.” One said with a grin, I gave a sideways smirk and saluted back.

The team was just finishing up, each was cleaning their PKM, Lola beamed when she saw me but her smile immediately melted when she saw my bleeding knuckles, she rushed towards me.

“Holly crap Jordan what the hell did you do? Are you OK? I need to get that cleaned up-.” She began as she inspected my right hand closer, I gently grabbed her hand with my left, moving it off my right, she looked up at me.

“Listen, I’ll be absolutely fine for now, I have to take care of something right now.” I said about to walk off towards Nina but she didn’t let go of my hand, I looked back at her, I couldn’t quite understand her expression, it almost reminded me of the look my wife had when I got sent off to…

I couldn’t afford to think about her right now.

“After you’re done you’ll report to me to be patched up, got it?” She said in a mock commanding tone, I smiled and freed my right hand, giving her an old school salute.

“Yes ma’am!” I said doing a parade style turn in the opposite direction, she was giggling uncontrollably and the recruits were looking at me like I was insane.

I walked over to Nina, she was about halfway done cleaning her gun.

“Demidova, after the day’s lessons I want you to see me at the self defence training ground.” I told her in Russian.

“Yes comrade captain.” She replied with a Russian style salute, she was learning fast, I couldn’t help but be a little proud.

The day went on as expected, I trained them to the best of my ability and I could already see who would take what speciality. Russlanov was an excellent marksman, no matter what new weapon I introduced he picked it up as fast as I put it down. Nina was a jack of all trades but she seemed to exceed in memorising the structure and operation of the enemy forces. Sablin was an outstanding martial artist, I almost had to try to keep up with him sparring. Dranikov was…. Keeping up.

The day’s drill lesson was just concluding.

“Squad, to the right!” I bellowed, the group turned in unison.

“To your living quarters, march!” I concluded, the group stepped off in rhythm, their steps echoing in the cavernous chamber. I flexed my fingers, the scabs that formed on my knuckles smarting from the stretch.

Remembering the new aspect of my mission I walked towards the sparring chamber, it would likely be empty, the personnel use the gym facilities if they need a workout.

On my way to the chamber I encountered one of our CP or Civil Protection guys, their job was to go undercover regularly and make sure the bears weren’t harassing the locals or to work with the boots on the ground to ensure the civilians were evacuated from the action.

“How’s things up North?” I asked, he looked tired and like he had been crying.

“The bears they… they’re starting to quietly execute anyone who makes too much noise.” He said with a raspy voice. I was stunned, speechless, I simply gave him a pat on the shoulder and kept walking.

I reached the training chamber to see Nina pacing the center, already in sparring kit.

“Demidova, oh stop it with the salute.” I said as she raised her hand.

“Oh, sorry comrade captain.” She said meekly putting down her hand.

“I called you here because you my dear will be our most valued field asset.” I sad simply, she tilted her head in confusion.

“Remember what you did to the Spetznaz that surrounded us when we rescued you?” I elaborated, she looked almost ashamed.

“So that’s why I was allowed into the unit…” She said quietly, I put my hand on her shoulder.

“The entire unit exists only because you do.” I said giving her a reassuring look.

“Now, what do you know about your ability?” I asked, she lit up, I did always see that keen nature in her when I asked the class questions and she knew the answer.

“Oh well you see I draw the energy of my surroundings, back then the energy was death because of the man in your unit back then…” She trailed off, sounding a whole lot less keen remembering the poor kid taking a bullet for her.

“Do you have full control?” I asked hopefully, she shamefully shook her head.

“No, I can control where the energy is applied is much harder to regulate.” I nodded and drew my knife, I pointed it downward at my boot and dropped it, she gasped and held out her hand, the blade froze mid-drop.

“Good, now, try to throw it point first at that dummy there.” I said stepping away from the blade, her face scrunched up in concentration as she lifted her hand higher causing the blade to face the dummy and raise to head level.

“Concentrate, make sure it finds its target.” I said stepping to her side, she let out a shout and compressed her open hand into a fist, the blade rocketed towards the target, impacting the head with such force that it flew through it and impaled itself into a wood post behind it. I was just about to congratulate Nina but she was halfway through collapsing. I caught her just before she hit the ground.

“I’m sorry comrade captain, that took a lot of control…” She said weakly but I chuckled.

“No need to apologise Demidova, you accomplished your task, now get upstairs and get some sleep.” I said helping her up, and with that she shakily walked away. I looked down at my watch and saw my broken knuckles, realizing I promised to meet Lola I myself hurriedly walked off.

I expected to find her in the med center but I was redirected by her co worker to her personal quarters, I reached her room and knocked.

“Yeah, come in!” She said from inside, I turned the doorknob and saw her sitting behind her desk, singning papers.

She was dressed in only the green combat pants and the undershirt, her tunic was hung up on the chair behind her. Her hair was tied behind her in a messy ponytail and her earrings lay on her bedside counter. Despite her casual look I found it hard to keep my eyes off her, that it is until she caught me starring and I hastily darted my eyes anywhere else like a kid.

“Yenno you could just sit down and stare at me.” She said indicating at the chair across from her with a laugh, I could feel my face turn bright red as I sat down. I looked quickly at the papers she was signing and they appeared to be ammunition log lists from the range.

“Right, captain, let’s see them.” She said after a few seconds, pulling up a metal med kit from under her desk, reluctantly I placed my hands on her desk.

They looked much worse than they felt, the dark scab had time to get significantly thicker and wider during the delay, she tutted.

“Yenno, you may still be able to run like one but I shouldn’t have to tell you like a kid that you need to treat wounds immediately.” She said as she applied rubbing alcohol to the scabs on my right hand, the liquid found its way into the cracks formed by me moving my fingers making me wince. This made her laugh.

“Oh don’t be a baby.” She said continuing to clean the wounds.

“It stings yenno.” I whined jokingly.

I wasn’t sure what it was, maybe it was the lighting or the angle but in that moment she looked especially beautiful. Finally, she finished cleaning and put away the kit, throwing away the bit of gauze she used.

“Right, I don’t think you’ll be needing a bandage, the scabs should do pretty well…” She said almost sadly, it almost seemed as though she didn’t want me to leave the room, and to be honest I didn’t particularly wanna leave. Trouble was I couldn’t think of an excuse to stay.

“Thanks doc, I’ll be sure to keep it clean…” I said trailing off, I was trained to think on my feet, come on, just one excuse to stay…

Giving up I stood, she stood as well.

Just one excuse…

I had spent so long on the same base as her, I knew her, why was my mind so frustratingly blank?

She took a step towards me, so did I.

Just one…

“Look I…” I began trying to explain the ongoing inner battle I had going on as I took another step towards her.

“Captain?” She said quietly, taking another pace forward, we were almost face to face.

I only need one…

“Yeah?” I asked taking the final pace, we were inches away. She wrapped her arms around my neck and connecting her gaze with mine.

“Shut up.” She whispered with a smile, gently pulling my head towards her.

I put my hands on her waist and leaned towards her, our lips locking in a kiss.

I had found my excuse…

It was to be with her.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I really hope whoever has stumbled onto this has enjoyed, i've been growing this idea for a few years and hopefully I didn't completely flub it.
> 
> If you enjoyed stick around! I'll be posting more soon.


End file.
